Conflicting stories have emerged about the incident, with one version of events claiming the hospital contacted the two families after they had been discharged and another claiming that one of the mothers had contacted the hospital after discovering that the child was not hers.

Khaled Usaimi, Eastern Province Health Affairs spokesman, however, denied both stories, saying the error was discovered on hospital premises before the two families had gone home.

“A nurse had been told to discharge two babies simultaneously,” said Usaimi. “What had caused the confusion was the fact that one of the mothers had come into the nursery, had her identification removed and then left the nursery to fetch some of her stuff from her room. In that time, the nurse had handed over her baby to the wrong woman, but quickly realized her mistake and called the father in to explain what had happened.”

The situation was resolved within five minutes, he said. Hospital staff usually place two bracelets on both mother and baby, which is standard practice at any maternity ward. The babies both had their bracelets removed at the same time, adding to the confusion.